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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27010513">xii; The Second Meeting</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theo_Thaur/pseuds/Theo_Thaur'>Theo_Thaur</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>31 Days of TUA Whump [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Episode: s02e08 The Seven Stages, F/M, Gen, I broke some rules on how powers work, One Shot, Whump, Whumptober 2020, as the Handler would say, but que sera sera, but we will ignore this collectively, not totally happy with this one</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:54:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,242</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27010513</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theo_Thaur/pseuds/Theo_Thaur</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Whumptober 2020 submission. No 12. "I THINK I’VE BROKEN SOMETHING": Broken Bones, Broken Trust. <br/>------<br/>Diego makes an attempt to figure out what causes the apocalypse, after Lila brings him to the Commission. The Infinite Switchboard turns out to be more difficult to understand than he had hoped.</p><p>(AU: Diego is caught on the ISB, and unable to go to the 1960s and stop Vanya's apocalypse. Lila is forced to make good on her promise to the Handler, to kill him if he acts out.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Diego Hargreeves &amp; Lila Pitts, Diego Hargreeves/Lila Pitts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>31 Days of TUA Whump [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951234</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>xii; The Second Meeting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>TRIGGERS: knives, choking, blood, guns, violence, referenced drugging, broken bones, loss of trust, somewhat implied past Five/the Handler.</p><p>Note: Italicized sentences are lifted from canon.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>xii; The Second Meeting</em>
</p><p><em>       "Alright, how hard can this be?" Diego murmured, scooting himself forward on the chair. </em>He scanned the panel of the Infinite Switchboard. Rows and rows of jacks, wires, lamps, keys, and cords stared right back. No sense looking it over any further, it was all Greek to him --literally, because Diego had never been very good at Greek. He took what was called a key, but that which he would probably be more inclined to call a plug, and put it into one of the holes. It clicked in easily, the machine beginning to generate a whirring noise. So far so good. He took another cable in hand, sliding to the tip of the cord to find the plug, and putting it into another spot at random. The machine sparked, electricity running up his hand. Diego withdrew quickly with a sharp gasp, cradling his stung hand and hoping that squeezing it would make the feeling of the shock go away. Diego tried to focus himself back onto the switchboard. One of the lamps was glowing a bright blue, so that was… good, maybe?</p><p>      A high pitched beeping noise continued to sound, having started when Diego had been shocked. The beeping still hadn't really occurred to him at the moment, because his hand had hurt like all hell. For such an unassuming panel, that little switchboard could pack a real punch, the stingy bitch. He scooted back over, having recoiled slightly from the sensation his touch to the plug had given him. A hand fell firmly on his back. Diego turned, using the wheeled chair to his advantage and trying to break them at the wrist, pulling out a knife. But their hand was firm, he wasn't able to move it in time, left awkwardly craning his head over his shoulder with a knife in hand. He looked up to see his attacker was tall. Alright, not tall exactly, but they weren't sitting down like he was. Cheap shot. Even more of a cop-out was the gun the mask-wearing person had pointed at his face. When had the door even opened, anyways? Speaking of, a few more Commission cronies had snuck their way inside the room at some point, guarding the door and all wearing gas masks. He almost hadn't noticed a figure dressed as darkly as him, standing at the edge of the room, arms crossed. Lila took a step forward, looking down at him, and Diego really wished that hand wasn't bracing at his shoulder, so he could just properly turn around to face her. The light of the switchboard played across her features, tinting her skin a cooler blue. It put an odd reflection into her deep eyes, which looked at him with amusement. Amusement that hid disappointment.</p><p>      "You can let the caveman go, for now," Lila prompted, addressing the attacker before she bothered speaking to him. The guard let go of his shoulder, but before he could turn Lila prompted,"caught you red-handed. Drop the knife." </p><p>      "I'm good," he answered simply, keeping his back turned at that point as a strategic move; if Lila wanted it she'd have to try harder than that. She smiled. </p><p>      "Hm. No." Within an instant, Diego's knife was pulling out of his palm, he attempted to stop it, but was far too late for that. It curled around Diego's shoulder in an impossible arc, the point nicking his skin just slightly as it twisted in the air, before plopping delicately onto Lila's outstretched palm. She closed her hand around the handle, holding it up to examine the blade casually.</p><p>      Diego turned his chair around to face her, feeling a little sheepish, but perplexed as well. "How did you…?"     </p><p>      "We share a birthday. And a birth year." The cogs were turning in his head. Lila sighed, "and you did those knife tricks in front of me constantly, like I'd be impressed." His eyes widened and she grinned a wolfish smile, bending down and leaning closer to him, their faces only inches apart. "You know, while we were in Elliott's bed," she added quietly, a remark that, despite the circumstances, didn't leave him entirely embarrassed. There was a maddened look in her eyes, that same look from the asylum when they'd ended up running off together. He'd been more innocent then, allowing himself to fall under her spell to an extent. It was all lies, every waking moment with her until basically up to that point had been. Diego didn't think he'd ever totally have her figured out, and for the most part he didn't <em> want </em>to, but that didn't mean he wasn't entranced. She leaned closer, and he brought a hand up, just about to run it through her hair, before she moved off to his right, leaning over his shoulder and unplugging the Infinite Switchboard. </p><p>      After that was done Lila backed away, dusting her hands off. "Bit of a safety regulation," she said, nodding toward the switchboard. He tried to wipe the surprise off his face. "I thank you for the new knife though. Best thing a boyfriend's ever gotten me, even if you did get a little bit of your blood on it. Shame." She moved closer again, and this time, not wanting to be tricked into a false sense of vulnerability, he tried to squirm away. Lila chucked, holding his chin in her hand, squeezing his cheeks so he couldn't move. She looked down into his eyes, before bringing the knife to his face. Diego flinched, thinking he'd have another scar to match the others, but trying to not let the fear he felt betray him by showing. She didn't hurt him, although she could've. It did seem stupid to Diego that she tried to minimize damage, playing nice instead of harsh, when she'd already caused harm. Lila carefully wiped the blade --the broad side, not the edge--, against the top of his cheekbone. It was threateningly close to his eye. Good thing <em> she </em>wasn't Oga Foroga, otherwise… well, now Diego was just confusing himself. </p><p>      The blade was cold on his skin, just a slip and she'd be gouging his eye out. But Lila knew what she was going and Diego knew what she <em> could </em>be doing. The most hard to stomach part though, was how large the blade of the knife looked when it was so close to his eye. Again, the closeness of their bodies was almost intimate. Diego had to stop himself from thinking about it.</p><p>      Eventually, Lila pulled away, when the blood had been wiped from the blade --he couldn't imagine there'd been that much to begin with, though. The Commission guards, which had been idling in the room, were looking between each other, behind Lila's back. Clearly <em> they </em> didn't know what to make of the situation, either. Diego couldn't blame them. Lila twirled the knife around, adopting one of his own skills. It had taken him a long time to master that (along with a few stitches), to understand the interplay between himself and the blade, but then again he'd been around five years old. "Yeah, quick question, did you really think you were going to sneak out of orientation when I'm the new Head of Security?" She tapped the blade against her lips, furrowing her brows and making a mocking, overly innocent 'thinking' face. "We're an incredibly large entity overseeing and correcting the timeline, we've heard of security systems. And it wasn't difficult, with you running around and telegraphing where you were on the ISB," she said, answering her own question.</p><p>      "Yeah, I noticed your shiny new pin," Diego replied bluntly. Lila smiled, seeming not to mind his tone.</p><p>      "D'ya like it?" She asked.</p><p>      One of the guards cleared their throat, speaking in a muffled voice. "We have orders from A.J. C--..." They sighed. "The <em> Handler </em>, to bring Diego Hargreeves to her office, in this specific case of protocol break." Lila stiffened, surprise flashing across her face. She nodded slowly, sliding the knife into the waistband of her pants, careful to keep her tucked in sweater between the knife blade and her stomach. </p><p>        "Rise and shine, wolf man," she took his hand, pulling him up. The soldiers forced him into cuffs behind his back, so Lila resorted to pulling on him by the bicep. They left Infinite Switchboard 2586, three guards in front of them and two in the back. It would've been almost romantic --as close as it ever could be--, to stroll together openly through her place of work, but literally <em> everything </em>else about their circumstances was wrong. Diego dragged his feet the whole way there. What was she thinking? Had Lila not been the one leading the soldiers? Diego had heard the Handler's warning that day just as clearly as she had:</p><p>
  <em>         "But, if he ruffles even one feather, you will kill him yourself. Understood?" </em>
</p><p>      And Lila had agreed. Was that a promise she intended to keep? With soldiers trained on him, there was nowhere he could turn. It did allow him to not have to contemplate what he'd do if it had just been himself and Lila, but he knew the answer to that even without being stuck in that situation. He would've kicked his way out, even if it was dangerous knowing she'd… gotten his powers? Was that even true? It <em> had </em>to be, didn't it? No other explanation. Was she sucking energy from him or something? Without meaning to, he stopped, focusing ever so briefly before the front guards turned back, the ones behind him forming a blockade. Lila observed, glancing over her shoulder and giving his arm a little tug. "Not getting cold feet, are you?" She asked. Diego hadn't been able to figure if she was leeching his powers off him or something, although he also wouldn't know what that felt like. He was left with too many questions, but was slightly more willing to realize his hands were tied --metaphorically and literally-- because a part of him still trusted her. Stupid to try that again, yes he knew.</p><p>       Two soldiers pushed open the heavy doors, the room lit mostly by lamplight.</p><p>       "Sit," the Handler said, voice abrupt and confident, although not exactly <em> sharp. </em>She seemed to think she knew where her steps would land her at the end, just not the movements in between. Diego envied her certainty. Lila came first, and Diego had no choice but to follow, sitting awkwardly on the black leather chair. It was a bit difficult to lay back, with his hands restrained behind himself, but, that was probably for the better anyways. Gave him a reason to sit straight up. Lila was more casual, leaning back in her chair.</p><p>      "I mean what I say, dear," the Handler said, eyes fluttering away from Lila and him only briefly to study the Commission soldiers. "Although I thought a <em> few </em> more of them would be dispatched," she sighed. "This place is a complete wreck, it will take much work to correct. But that is my problem, not yours." She more directly addressed Lila, asking, "now, let's talk about <em> your </em>problem, shall we?" Lila frowned.</p><p>        "There's no problem, mum," she answered, shrugging. Lila spoke a little faster, adding, "mistakes happen. Diego here was just the wrong time, the wrong place." She looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. Diego faltered, trying to figure out what to say, and she ground her heel into his foot underneath the desk.</p><p>        "Aah--yes! Yeah," he swallowed, "I got lost." The Handler looked amused.</p><p>        "I'm sure you did, poor scoundrel," she said, in a way that made Diego think she was being sympathetic, right until she turned to face Lila, expression falling immediately. "These kinds of mistakes can never be tolerated. You know how it is. Your boy toy violated our terms. Business practices start the top and make their way down. It's about setting a standard of moral behavior." The Handler smirked, getting herself a cigarette and slipping it into the holder. </p><p>        "Last time I checked," Lila leaned forward, raising her voice slightly, "you were running around striking up deals to have the Boa--" she cut herself off, rolling her eyes before leaning back. "Certain <em> exceptions </em> can be made, can't they?" She asked much more quietly, eyes boring right into the Handler. The Handler just chuckled, lighting the end of her cigarette. The room was already beginning to smell of smoke, and as she breathed out, Diego had to fight not to cough for a moment. Sure, he knew what cigarette smoke was like, he wasn't in any way that uncorrupted, but he'd never put the stuff in his body. His lungs weren't used to it.</p><p>      "Are you threatening me?" She asked calmly. "Because if you are, I raised you to do it better than that, but all the same it's in bad taste to threaten your mother, as I thought you were also aware." </p><p>       Lila scoffed. "I'm just being <em> honest </em> ," she retorted. "Listen, Diego here, he's like Five. I'm sure you gave Five a lot of chances when <em> he </em>was new to the Commission. Let Diego have a go."</p><p>        She shifted a little in her chair, giving Diego a probing look. She blew out a long stream of smoke "Your little crush is nothing like Five." Diego was inclined to say that was true, actually. At least he had a moral compass and some amount of chill.</p><p>        "Alright, so he's not as smart, and his powers are… kind of not great, but, he has good bones! And he's a fighter." Diego turned to Lila, scowling, but she ignored him.</p><p>        "I know he's a fighter. He didn't even get through orientation before making a scene," the Handler pointed out. "And you forget that Five is a real man. You? You have brought me a boy." Right. So his brother, in the body of a thirteen year old, was more of a man than him. Diego stood suddenly, trying to break his hands free from behind his back.</p><p>       "You take that back!" He warned, still visibly struggling. Everyone else was just watching, even Lila hadn't stood to stop him. The Handler took a few more drags of her cigarette.</p><p>       "Or what, sweetheart?" Diego blinked, he didn't know what to say.</p><p>       "Sit down," Lila told Diego, as if the act of doing that exhausted her. He sat down.</p><p>      "Well," she snuffed her cigarette early, before clapping her hands together, "that settles that. Lila, you will kill Diego."</p><p>      "No I most certainly won't!" Lila answered, abandoning all relaxed tones and raising her voice freely.</p><p>      "I always knew you'd rebel eventually. I suppose I can't blame you, it is a hard lesson to learn. However you must learn to remove the weak links, that which… slips through the cracks," the Handler answered, before taking a moment to adjust her blazer. "I can't do this for you, or have someone do it for you, I'm afraid. You may not like me now but you'll thank me later." Diego turned quickly to Lila, his heart beginning to race when she didn't immediately say anything. Talk was one thing, he had thought she would be able to talk her way out of his being killed, since it was her mother making the order. Lila looked frustrated, Diego was familiar with the feeling, but she held herself back, a hard look coming over her face.</p><p>       "Alright. But I want privacy. That's non-negotiable." The Handler looked at her for a long time.</p><p>        "Very well. I ask you to drop off his cold dead body in my office by the end of the work day, then. And the soldiers will accompany you and your beau," the Handler decided. Lila's frown deepened slightly but she nodded, seeming to decide more to herself than answer the Handler. She stood, and Diego did the same, but there was no way in hell he was going to let it happen. He didn't care what happened to Lila, he <em> was </em> getting out of the Commission one way or another. Diego had shuffled his way towards the door, being put in the same formation between the soldiers as before. They'd been almost to the threshold of the office, two guards opening the doors, before the Handler spoke up. "Such a shame, about this execution by the way. I was so hoping your presence in the Commission would make Five remember that he has a place here." Had the Handler ever thought he'd be good enough? Diego glared at her, spitting on the floor before Lila yanked him out of the office. The guards, having no idea where they were supposed to escort to, idled in the hallway. </p><p>        Lila paused, looking around at the soldiers. "Oh. Right. There's a block of meeting rooms to the left, not far. I guess we should just… borrow one." He didn't know how she could be so casual about it, about taking his life. It'd be one thing if they were strangers, or enemies, but they'd been <em>close. </em>Diego knew what her lips felt like, had just begun to work out the kind of things that made her laugh. He'd wondered what the rest of his rag-tag family --minus Five-- would think of her. He'd looked into her eyes and he'd sworn he saw good, something worth staying with. Diego had never been led into believing anything with Lila would be easy, but he had felt like it was right. For the first time in a long time he'd been interested in bringing someone closer. Ever since what had happened at the Mexican Consulate that trust had broken off, but even to the very last few moments of him not being a prisoner, he'd entertained her. Diego had drunk the poisoned canteen willingly, and when he'd pulled her aside after the initial talk with the Handler? He'd seen the interaction as just one more thing threatening to stand in his way, an <em>inconvenience </em>but nothing more. Diego felt he should've ran while he had the chance, because she'd known all along she was taking him from where he <em>needed</em> the most desperately to be, and she'd done it anyway. Lila didn't care about rights or wrongs, at the end of the day every choice she made was at someone else's command, and that had never been the kind of person Diego had fallen in love with. </p><p>        They came upon the series of meeting rooms, as was promised, and Lila opened the door to the nearest available room, before shoving Diego inside. The soldier's filed in after. It was a fairly large space, a long dark-wood table with several office chairs tucked nearly under it. Nothing more than an ashtray laid on the table, and a clock on the wall. Lila took the knife out from the waistband of her pants. "It would be kind of stupid of me to gut you with this, considering your powers and all," she noted. "You hold it, would you?" Diego watched in agony as the knife changed hands, although at least this meant one less soldier that could aim and shoot with two hands. He wasn't sure he had the presence of mind to take it back from the guard, especially not when he was adapted towards physically touching something before changing trajectory.</p><p>       "What, don't think you can go up against me?" Diego asked. Lila shook her head, looking over at him.</p><p>       "You <em> really </em> are an idiot. Certifiably, I'm sure," she took a step closer, "don't speak up right now. Provokes me and it's really not worth it just for you to look like a man."</p><p>        "You can't tell me what to do," Diego replied. He wasn't going to make this easy for her.</p><p>       "Now you just sound like a child," Lila feigned pity, combing a hand gently through his hair. Diego's arms jerked behind his back as he tried to stop her.</p><p>        "I'd kick you right now if it didn't mean a hole in my head from your friends," he answered, point blank. "That, and I want to make <em> you </em>do it. You brought me here."</p><p>       She chuckled, drawing away, to push and pull idly at one of the wheeled chairs. "It's not really being a martyr, if you're just asking me to kill you. There's no sacrifice in that," she answered, cooly. She had no right to critique his motivates. If there was a way out that didn't immediately involve him being killed, he was <em> happy </em>to hear it. </p><p>       "...I'm not taking ethics from a murderer," he settled on finally.</p><p>      "And <em> I'm </em> not acknowledging the hysterics of a drama queen," she plucked the ashtray up from the table, which carried a metallic sheen. She walked closer, pressing the edge of the circular ashtray to his throat. Would Lila not even touch him with her bare hands? The ashtray, although clean and spilling no ash, was still jagged at the sides, and cold.</p><p>       "I knew you were full of shit since the Mexican Consulate. When you sided with Five over me," Diego remembered how he'd called for her to help, expecting it, only for her to turn her back. It still hurt, though he detested allowing his future murderer to get to him emotionally as well as physically. Something seemed to dawn on Lila, and her face lit up, before shifting to something more rawly malicious</p><p>       "That's right, the consulate, when I was <em> with Five </em> ," Lila agreed, letting the corner of the ashtray dig a little further into his throat. Diego squirmed away as best he could, although in no coincidence she'd backed him up against the meeting room table, his bound arms pressed against the edge. He tried to turn his head, but she quickly put her hand onto his scalp, nails digging in as she forced him to see her, and bare his windpipe. For a few suffocating moments Lila held him there, not nearly tight enough to choke him, but pressing on a very delicate part. It felt incredibly tight, there were multiple occurrences where Diego could swear she was pressing just a little harder, the alarm bells going off in his mind and arms chafing against the table as he tried to back away. It was a horrifying pattern, sweat was beading up on his forehead and he felt weakened. Lila just watched him, seeming entirely nonchalant about the whole situation. He didn't matter to her, clearly he was a toy that could be broken. Diego just wished it could happen faster, the minutes that had gone by felt like years, he was worn ragged by the sense of impending doom that came up and died down, which repeated itself countless times. He didn't know in what way he was able to sustain a new wave of panic constantly, each time he was sure the corners of his vision were blurring around Lila. So often he was sure the thin, sharp blockage was finally becoming too much for him to breath through. It was the itch he couldn't scratch, a digging and intrusive sort of pain he rarely had to deal with. Diego had come to terms with his death before; although he didn't tend to think about it, it was always a possibility in the way he lived his life. He'd never intended to die at the hands of someone he'd trusted and held, if both of those things just briefly. He'd never intended to go down without a fight, without any <em> meaningful </em>sacrifice. He didn't even learn what he'd set out to learn, didn't know what was bringing the nineteen sixty-three apocalypse. </p><p>        It was possibly one of the worst ways he could ever see himself dying. Not at the hands of a worthy opponent, but at the hands of someone he'd let in. Every moment, every time he'd pushed someone away --it was all for null. Because in the end, he hadn't been cautious enough this <em> one </em>time, acting too vulnerably. Diego had nothing to show for it, nothing to cling to. He was going to die slowly and with no sense of accomplishment. Even if he'd gotten the information he'd set out for, he wouldn't have been able to tell the others. He'd been useless, and JFK was probably going to die without him there to stop it.</p><p>        Lila pulled away eventually, letting go of his scalp, and it was only then that Diego realized how much he'd been missing. The next breath he'd taken in had been excessively large, nearly resembling a backwards yawn. Lila chuckled. He stepped away from the table just a little, shoulders slumping as he took the next few breaths, in more rapid succession than was really required. "Fuck y-you," he said finally, when he'd got his breath.</p><p>       "That's not the way to talk to a lady."</p><p>       "You're not a lady," Diego answered.</p><p>       "I'm going to miss our cute banter when you're dead," Lila answered. She raised the ashtray again --which was increasingly becoming her weapon of choice-- and Diego flinched although he hated himself for it. She once again looked him up and down, probably deciding where would be best to hurt him, how to torture him. Lila held the ashtray at chest level, bringing it towards herself with the bottom facing outward to him. With all the precision of any well-rehearsed move, she brought herself a step closer, snapping her wrist and forearm forwards toward Diego in the same familiarity one might use to throw a baseball. The bottom of the ashtray collided with his collarbone, hitting Diego's left rather than against his lower throat. There was no doubt in his mind that it was <em> solid </em> metal, he felt a shift in his bone as the force rang out across his body. Lila glanced away, seeming almost frantic as she did, before looking down and purposefully shoving the heel of her boot down onto his foot. Whereas the pain in his collarbone had been part shock, and was only beginning to swell, her heel grinding into his toes kept him more on the spot. It was an immediate burst of pain but one that persisted, rather than cresting and slowly beginning to build. He felt a numbness in his foot, and when she did back off, it was only to get a good look at his face. Once again with a determined look in her eye, she raised the back of the ashtray, slamming it against the bridge of his nose. Something cracked, as his nose bent down under the stress, the metal kissed his brow bone. She took the ashtray away fairly quickly, and Diego flexed his nostrils, unsure if his nose even worked --if did, apparently, but then again his nose was incredibly stuffy and hurt like hell, possibly bleeding. Like any Temps Commission killing machine, she'd done her job well. Diego had been punched in the face before, it was almost a comforting distraction at that point. He put on a strong face, glaring at Lila as she moved away, likely to admire her work from a distance. Any fear he could give her to move back over to him, was worth it. They'd left any real pleasantries at the meeting room door. No, not even. They'd never had <em> real </em>pleasantries. Lila had never met him in that way, because it had never been real, and somehow that was a comfortable belief.</p><p>      A bell went off, although it was different from the one he'd heard while at the switchboard. Nothing happened at first, and then a guard cleared their throat. "Miss… this is our lunch break," a voice said apologetically, sounding odd through the stuffy gas masks Diego assumed they were required to wear. </p><p>       Lila turned, looking surprised. "Oh, yeah. Go ahead and grab some food, I'll be," she gestured towards Diego with a snort, "right here." There was some hesitance in the group of Commission soldiers, but they all left the room. Lila set the ashtray down on the table next to Diego. "Turn around," she said, and he did it quickly only because he was still in the mindset of having to take orders if he didn't want to get shot in the head. Diego didn't say anything after that, as her hands brushed against his wrists, because he didn't know what he would even say. With a clicking noise, the pressure around his wrists released, and Diego brought his hands in front of himself, rubbing at where the cuffs had held him. "Commission regulation handcuffs. Bit more advanced than what you had in 2019, I'm guessing," she laughed, but it wasn't so cruel. </p><p>      Diego reluctantly faced her, but it was difficult to turn with the swelling his left in one of his feet, having an odd mix of confusion and anger and shame to deal with. "What happened?"</p><p>      Lila shrugged, dabbing her hand into the blood on his lip, wiping it off on his tank-top, "I saved you." He tried to push her hand away. "What? You were already covered in dirt, and there's blood on your cheek too," Lila rolled her eyes.</p><p>      "<em> Saved </em>me? You brought me here! And then you beat me up!"</p><p>      Lila shrugged. "Complications. And I think that's what's called 'I got you into this mess, and now I'm going to get you out'. That is, unless you want to wait for the soldiers to come back and for me to pick the trusty ashtray up." Instead of taking the time to be constructive, Diego gave her the cold shoulder and said nothing. "Don't be difficult with me! I did what needed to be done. They needed to think I was crazy and murderous in order to feel comfortable leaving the Handler's daughter alone." Diego's face softened just a little. 'Sorry' didn't fix broken bones, 'sorry' didn't mean that he hadn't been dragged somewhere against his will to do something against his will. He had no desire to let her back in, after everything, and Diego wanted nothing more than the luxury to be stubborn, and the biggest dick about that. But he couldn't. There were bigger things out there, and Lila was the only way he could get him there, if she had a plan for saving them.</p><p>      "What're you gonna do?" He asked.</p><p>      "I fought alongside Five against the Swedes, in the Mexican Consulate. I think I can mimic his powers," she answered proudly.</p><p>      "Uh, yeah, so I'm just hearing about this now, when you could've used it at any moment to get us out?!" So about not being a dick, Diego couldn't help it. It had been too easy to fixate on something, and the rage felt justified. Her bringing up the Mexican Consulate hadn't helped either.</p><p>      "I wanted to get us a head start to hide, when the people that are trying to 'seek' us, control all of time, so <em> yes </em> , I'm just telling you about this now you idiot!" Lila answered, hissing at him with a low voice. "You may not <em> like </em> me Diego, you may not <em> agree </em> with me, but you <em> need </em>me." She held her held out, palm facing the ceiling. An offer. Diego took it with a moment of apprehension. All the same, the bright blue light enclosed them, the noise of electricity buzzing in his ears, just as when he'd been dropped into the sixties. But, he wasn't alone, he was with Lila, and met her eyes as the world blinked out around them.</p>
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